Wednesday, August 17, 2016

The Libertarian blogger Willis Hart hates the Progressive Left. As far as Democratic Socialism goes, his hatred for it is even greater. Although he did once indicate that he believes that the ENTIRE Left is Communist, so it's possible he makes no distinction between the current Democratic Party and Democratic Socialists (OST #102).

Regardless, it is a fact that, back when Bernie Sanders was a 2016 potus hopeful, Willis went after him more than Hillary Clinton. Below is one example, a commentary in which he lies about what it says on the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) website.

Willis Hart: On the Democratic Socialists of America (Bernie's Fellow Fascist Buddies) Website Stating that "In the Short Term, We Can't Eliminate Private Corporations but We Can Bring Them Under Democratic Control"... The key words here of course being, IN THE SHORT TERM (meaning that in the long term government confiscation on such a frightening scale is exactly what these assholes want).

And don't you just love the way that they mask this whole tyrannical use of government force in such flowery jargon as "democratic control", as opposed to what it truly is - theft? Of course, the saddest part of all is the fact that its effective, with the average voter in America being a) dumber than a box of rocks (all too willing to accept the whole "free lunch" narrative) and b) easily bribed ("free stuff for me!!"). Yeah, I'm not very optimistic here. (4/19/2016 AT 4:33pm).

So I Googled on the phrase that Willis puts between quotes in his commentary. The only result Google returned was Willis' own website. Removing the quotes, however, did yield a result. Turns out Willis edited what he found on the DSA website by removing one word (which I cap in red in the REAL quote below).

Question: Private corporations seem to be a permanent fixture in the US, so why work towards socialism?

Answer: In the short term we can't eliminate private corporations, but we can bring them under GREATER democratic control. The government could use regulations and tax incentives to encourage companies to act in the public interest and outlaw destructive activities such as exporting jobs to low-wage countries and polluting our environment. Public pressure can also have a critical role to play in the struggle to hold corporations accountable. Most of all, socialists look to unions to make private business more accountable. (Democratic Socialists of America website).

The ACTUAL key word here of course being, "encourage". But Willis stops short (with his quote), leaving this out so he can falsely claim their goal is "government confiscation". As for "in the short term", I doubt we'll ever eliminate private corporation. Or publically held corporations ("held" by "the public" in that stock in the company is publically traded). The best we can hope for is to pursue the "encourage" strategy, I think. Via laws that make the creation of cooperatives easier. Or by laws that give tax breaks to owners of privately held companies who sell to their employees.

In either case, passing laws to make it easier for employees to form co-ops (by buying businesses from owners or shareholders WILLING TO SELL) involves absolutely zero "tyrannical use of government force". So, when Willis sez confiscation "is exactly what these assholes want" what he is referring to are his own paranoid delusions. I mean, to see how absolutely full of shit Hart is, all we need to look at the state of corporate enterprise in European democratic socialist countries. Here we have highly profitable corporations that include IKEA and Volvo in Sweden and Siemens in Germany.

Are any of these corporations worried about the possibility of "government confiscation"? Are they expending funds to lobby their respective governments to stop plans to seize their businesses and turn them over to their employees?

Perhaps Willis, if his post pointed to sources that indicated ANY of these fears are in any way possible (via a link to a news source that stated any democratic socialist nation was considering legislation that would enable the seizing of businesses)? Then maybe his fears could be considered real. As opposed to delusional conjecture based on 4 words from the DSA website ("in the short term"). From which he concludes that their long term agenda is "government confiscation on... a frightening scale".

Although, to conclude this it's necessary for him to ignore the word "greater". Use of which would indicate that they're in favor of increasing United States unionization figures (currently 7%) as well as the number employee owned companies (a a short list). Growing these two via regulations (making it easier to unionize and form co-ops) and tax incentives to encourage companies to act in the public interest (making it easier for employees to unionize, buy businesses and form co-ops) falls INCREDIBLY short of Hart's paranoid conspiracy involving "confiscation on such a frightening scale".

Keep in mind that we're talking about DEMOCRATIC Socialism, which would involve the citizens of the United States voting to move us toward a system under which the plutocrats have less control. Via regulations making such processes easier (democratizing businesses) we can achieve greater unionization rates and more co-ops. All possible without the use of "tyrannical government force" (which is never mentioned on the DSA website and is PURELY a product of WTNPH's fevered wealth-worshipping imagination).

I can understand why oligarchy worshippers such as the Hartster feel the need to fear monger/lie on this topic, however. That someone like Bernie Sanders actually won a lot of primaries (he gave the establishment candidate HRC a run for her money) seriously scares Willis. Hence all the commentaries on his blog regarding how the Democratic Party has changed (AKA gone increasingly Commie).

The Sanders movement is proof of how sick of plutocracy the voters are. Which is why the prospect of a Sanders presidency had Willis shitting his pants. And he's likely still shitting his pants thinking of the prospect that these voters might work to push (a likely) president HRC to work for more of what benefits The People (more democratic socialism). As opposed to benefiting the oligarchs (whom Willis loves). Hence all the ridiculous conspiracy theory bullshit from him (such as the post above).

Video: Toward a caring economy. Webinar presented by The Next System (1:24:52).

Beats me. I deleted the extra one though. Stranger is that I don't remember moderating your comments. I just saw them now and thought they were new. I noticed the double comments on your blog and wondered why you were saying things twice.

I like labels. Someone not telling me where they stand on the issues in shorthand (a label) makes me suspicious. Like that No Labels group that tried to sell themselves as moderate... when they're actually conservative.